The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is said to be investigating trades placed to benefit from oil price movement surrounding the OPEC+ talks last month.

Bloomberg report citing two unnamed people "with direct knowledge of the matter."

CFTC inquiry is focused on whether Russia's stance with OPEC+ leaked to market participants ahead of time. 'd be shocked if they hadn't.

The info is based off these unnamed sources, so bear that in mind:

  • traders being investigated are not Russian government officials
  • but the entities placing the trades are said to employ people 'with links to the Kremlin'
  • the transactions are in instruments that had expired before the price drop into negative this week

UK FCA (Financial Conduct Authority - regulator for financial markets in the UK) also investigating.

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Look … this is a rhetorical question, but feel free to take it up in the comments if you wish. Isn't this sort of behaviour the exact thing that technical analysis is supposed to pick up? Or is technical analysis no longer of any use (check this out)?

oil russia